UPDATE:Force was a U.S. Army vet who had deployed in Iraq and Afghanistan. This former Eagle Scout and combat vet was murdered by a terrorist thug on the boardwalk in Jaffa.

UPDATE #2:Initial reports that Force was married and that his wife was also injured in the attack were inaccurate. Taylor Force was not married.

Advertisement

Taylor Force, a 29 year-old graduate student at Vanderbilt University, was stabbed to death by a Palestinian Arab during a terrorist attack on Tuesday, March 8 in Jaffa, Israel.

Force was in Israel on a school trip, with other Vanderbilt’s Owen Graduate School of Management students, faculty and staff.

Ten others were wounded in the same attack, including a pregnant woman. No other Vanderbilt students were injured.

Vanderbilt’s Chancellor, Nocholas S. Zeppos, released a statement about the tragedy on Tuesday. He wrote:

Taylor embarked on this trip to expand his understanding of global entrepreneurship and also to share his insights and knowledge with start-ups in Israel. He exemplified the spirit of discovery, learning and service that is the hallmark of our wonderful Owen community. This horrific act of violence has robbed our Vanderbilt family of a young hopeful life and all of the bright promise that he held for bettering our greater world.

Before entering graduate school, Force served in the U.S. Army as a field artillery officer. His deployments included Operation Iraqi Freedom, Operation New Dawn (Iraq), and Operation Enduring Freedom (Afghanistan). He received a B.S. from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. He was also an Eagle Scout.

Force died at the Wolfson Medical Center in Holon. He was from Lubbock, Texas.

A witness to the stabbings told Israel’s Channel 2 that he heard screams and saw the Arab man running towards him with a knife. The man took his guitar and bashed the terrorist over the head. The terrorist withdrew, but then went on to stab several more people before he was shot and killed.

Lori Lowenthal Marcus is a contributor to the JewishPress.com. A graduate of Harvard Law School, she previously practiced First Amendment law and taught in Philadelphia-area graduate and law schools. You can reach her by email: Lori@JewishPressOnline.com

Tragic. Shocking in that even a West Point graduate could not defend himself against the maniacal murderous rages of these phony Palestinains.push as many as you can back into Jordan.Make enough is enough more than a slogan please.

I bet the BBC will report, ‘violence in jaffa leads to the killing of another Palestinian youth.’ When will the world see the Palestinian cancer for what it is, stop funding the murderous leadership and expose the sad reality of a people who yearn only for violence as a means of destruction with no ambition for a settled resolution.

A good man killed, his wife critically injured. Our president has not addressed this attack, not condemned the assailant identified as an Arab terrorist. The vice president, who was not far from where the attack occurred, condemned it as terrorism. This young man was a veteran who had served in Iraq and Afghanistan but his commander in chief cannot be first in line to condemn his killer.

Indiscriminant murder is savage and inhumane. The only response to such cruelty is execution and eradication of the perpetrator(s). What happened in Israel today serves as an indication that the disease of killing innocent individuals is infecting and spreading throughout the Muslim world, and, like other contagious diseases recently imported to the US, requires immediate, proactive action rather than politically correct statements from/by the Administration. If Washington and the White House will maintain their passive “wait and see” reputation, similar murders will infiltrated in massive instances and will victimize every corner of our country. Wake up America, support Israel as a preventative measure of protecting all of us here in our 50 States.

not a pc solution: complete separation from the palis, aka, deportation to jordan or better yet, to merkel's germany where they are waiting for the muslim rapefugees/murderers with open arms – implementation: the sooner the better. let us not wait until obummer is gone.

Can not be allowed to continue assassinating defenseless citizens in Israel, so the government should make a display of trained and armed plainclothes agents in those strategic places deemed suitable and also sue the documentation to all suspects Arabs and carry small metals detectors simplified all these secret agents to defend the Jewish citizens and tourists in Israel.

When do think President Obama or Sec. Kerry will issue a statement regarding this incident? Their conduct and silence speaks volumes as to their state of mind and their belief system. They have lost their moral compass!